The music industry is dead. Like it or not CD's are on their way out, which is why we've been starting to see a good chunk of CD's these days come with nice little DVD's. It's a nice gesture, and definitely makes the purchase of music more attractive, but quite frankly, it's too little too late.

So here we are revisiting the debut Duff McKagans Loaded, re-released with a nifty live DVD to make things a little more enticing.

The Music
First things first; there is no way this could turn out half as boring as Velvet Revolver. Not freaking possible. Anyone who's familiar with Duff, knows that he brought the punk rock edge to bands like Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver. Luckily, the lack of outside input really paid off, as this isn't nearly as bloated and overhyped sounding as anything release by any former Guns N' Roses member since their break up. It's just a really straight-forward quasi-punk album, taking a step closer to proto-punk acts like The Stooges and The MC5. He knows what he's doing, the whole thing is put together nicely...Just a little too nicely. While the songs definitely show a genuine love of his idols, Duff seemed to forget the rawness that makes a lot of punk what it is. It's just a little too glossed over to have that real bite & shake that could be heard from bands like The Stooges. Not a bad listen, but nothing mind blowing.

The music? 6/10

The DVD
This should have come with the original pressing of the album. Unlike a good majority of bonus disc crap, the concert filmed here is actually really well filmed. Not only was the filming done well, but the choice of venue was a wise one to portray the music properly. A small(ish) sweaty club with no barriers, no frilly stage gimmicks or other silly bullshit - just stage and a tight crowd. The music? Well let's just say the aspects that made Sick a somewhat dry release are completely forgotten about in the live setting.

The DVD? 9/10

The music is good, the over-glossed production kills it. It would be nice to see this band do maybe a garage-type recording, or even a live album in the future. Worth picking up for the bonus material, a fairly lack-lustre album standing on it's own, however.

It didn't have a big impact on me either, i was expecting more, i found less, i've always considered Duff a pretty cool dude, he's missing the sparkle nowadays, as everyone pretty much from the "cult" GnR crew back in the days. They are all shadows of themselves.